Skiff

August 24th, 2009 by admin

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Posted in August 2009, columns | 15 comments

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15 comments on this post.

  1. L.Owens:

    December 19th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Growing up in a Midwest family with Origins of german and welch a skiff of snow was used as a light dusting (1″ OR LESS).

  2. KayeM:

    May 2nd, 2010 at 11:07 pm

    I was pleased to find your article and also the comment left by L.Owens. I’m from eastern Canada and my Maine born husband thought I was crazy – he’d never heard the term “skiff” except as type of small boat.
    “It must be a Canadian thing” was his response. A little internet research showed me the word’s Scottish origins and since the Scots have made their way to many parts of the world including the U.S. it’s obviously not just a “Canadianism”. (Hubby is low on the Scottish blood himself so I will excuse his lack of knowledge). Many thanks!

  3. waxxod:

    December 3rd, 2010 at 11:27 am

    If you take a swipe at a football and barely touch it, you’d say you’d skiffed it, at least in the part of East Scotland where I grew up.

  4. Ratatouille and a Gray Winter Day:

    January 12th, 2011 at 3:08 am

    [...] native Californian eyes are looking out on a gray world with a skiff of snow on the ground from a few lazy flakes drifting from the sky, adding to the thick heavy [...]

  5. A. Junius:

    March 1st, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    Does anyone know the saying that goes “If if were a skiff, we’d be paddling on the river,” or something similar to this?

  6. Jeff W.:

    June 29th, 2011 at 11:19 am

    The way I heard it was, “If if were a skiff, we could hop in and sail away.” That goes back to roughly 40 years ago, so I have no idea where I saw or heard it.

  7. October 26, a skiff of snow « SCB Citizen:

    October 26th, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    [...] had to turn to the Word Detective for an answer. “a ‘skiff’ of snow is a light flurry or cover of snow, but you can [...]

  8. First Snowfall | the Knobby Knitter:

    November 12th, 2011 at 11:47 am

    [...] the first snowfall of the year. It’s just a skiff mind you, and it’s already melting. Time to get back to work on the Boneyard shawl… [...]

  9. Dot McQueen:

    December 4th, 2011 at 9:38 am

    I’m from Edinburgh in the East Coast of Scotland and talk about a skifter of snow meaning a very light covering. My husband, who is also from Edinburgh, thinks I made it up as he’s never heard the word!!

    And BTW, we have a skifter of snow this morning for the first time this year.

    Cheers.

  10. B. Graham:

    January 7th, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    YES! I just used the term “skiff” of snow, wondered about its origin, looked it up, and found only the boat definition. I grew up in Iowa and the term was used by everyone. I am glad I found this posting as I was starting to wonder if it was one of those words I had misheard over the years and it really didn’t exist.

  11. K. Wright:

    March 15th, 2012 at 8:32 am

    Vindicated at last! My family always said a “skiff” of snow. We are from Ontario. Like B. Graham’s post above, I began to wonder if I made the word up as a rarely have heard it used other than by me. Thanks for the research.

  12. A Skiff of Snow | Brent Logan:

    December 18th, 2012 at 11:15 am

    [...] Logan A skiff of snow idled on my car this morning. Categories: Photographs Tagged: hillsboro, show Comment [...]

  13. Duane Dowden:

    December 24th, 2012 at 4:41 pm

    “Skiff” has been used as a universally understood word since I was very young boy in the 1950′s Upper Midwest – and certainly before my time. It has always been implied as a small amount of snow that mostly blew around and left very little accumulation. It seems a “skiff” had more to do with a small accumulation then behavior.
    My small town South Dakota upbringing was inspired with colorful words and phrases. “Pop” was always the word used for a bottle of flavored soda, like Dr. Pepper. “Ufdah” pronounced oof dah can mean many different things – for me it’s a way of expressing astonishment or I use it in place of a swear word!! “For cripe sake” – probably a safer way of saying for Christ Sake. The list goes on and on. We should thank the midwest for colorful language.

  14. Suzanne gillman:

    February 24th, 2013 at 6:10 am

    Thank you! I used this word to describe yesterday’s snowfall. Husband thought i was mad. My family and our local weathermen always refer to a skiff of snow in Southern Alberta, Canada

  15. elle j:

    March 22nd, 2013 at 1:09 am

    I’m a born and raised Albertan and all of these sayings are part of my upbringing

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